


Silver Linings In Rainclouds

by exitium



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Cafe Leblanc (Persona 5), Developing Friendships, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Goro analyzes everything and ryuji is like "its not that deep bruh", Goro self-internalizes everything, M/M, Persona 5 Spoilers, Ryuji is a ball of sunshine and even Goro can't help himselff, Working out buddies goes wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-13 10:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21493060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exitium/pseuds/exitium
Summary: Maybe if they had met earlier, he wouldn't have fallen the way that he did.Takes place before Shido's palace.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Sakamoto Ryuji, Implied at least heeheehoohoo, Niijima Makoto/Takamaki Ann, also implied heeheehoohoo
Comments: 4
Kudos: 64





	Silver Linings In Rainclouds

**Author's Note:**

> This was an unfinished fic that I was going to dedicate to a very dear friend. It was called "7 times", and I was supposed to have an interaction of this length with each of the Phantom Thieves. I ended up not finishing it, unfortunately. But I did finish the scene with Goro and Ryuji, so... Yeah. Take my trash.

Ryuji texted him the address an hour ago, prior to their agreed meeting time of 2:30 in the afternoon. The establishment, which is a gym (a place he prefers to stay away from because of the research released last year that stated how much bacteria is on the handlebars of the equipment), is a step-up from the sorry excuse he saw in Shujin academy. The gym there was just a bunch of metal and  _ maybe  _ an exercise bike, and some blue mats tucked neatly in the corner. Granted, all the junk in there was kept neat, but Goro has an exercise bike in his apartment that’s most likely worth more than the equipment there. And that, after usage, is wiped down carefully to make sure it is maintained. 

But this… This is  _ Tokyo Oasis Sports Shinjuku,  _ a popular gym establishment that Ryuji was dying to go to. This isn’t Shujin Academy’s dumpster workout room, this isn’t Goro’s exercise bike, this is… an actual workout space. 

-

_ “Why do you even want to go there?” Ann had asked when Ryuji had brought it up over coffee. Futaba and Haru were chatting about something insignificant, while Yusuke and Akira were looking over study notes with Makoto. Rain fell outside, a constant.  _

_ “To work out, geez!” Ryuji furrowed his brows at her in annoyance. “This week’s gonna be all rain, and I ain’t gonna do squats in the rain.”  _

_ “There’s a saying in America,” Ann began, just as Makoto glanced over to catch her eye. They smiled at each other for a brief second. Goro didn’t miss any of it. “Work hard, play hard! That means you have to work for what you want, Ryuji. No doubt that you do, but if you work hard, you get to play harder.”  _

_ Goro forced himself to shut his mouth. He wanted to say that ‘work hard play hard’ meant that you must work with everything you have and play with everything you have to keep your heart content. As long as you are content, working will feel like playing. But, to some degree, Ann is correct. Sort of.  _

_ Ryuji groaned. “I don’t want hypothermia, but thanks.” _

_ “I’m trying to motivate you, okay? Besides, I can’t even go with you this week. I’m shopping with Makoto and taking her to my favorite bakeries.” Ann paused. Her eyes brightened a second later. “I know! Akira can be your spotter,” she grinned, happy with her idea.  _

_ Ryuji was happy, too. Why didn’t he think of that? “Yeah! Akira, come to Tokyo Oasis Sports Shinjuku, man! It’ll be a hell of a time, two dudes, workin’ out, watchin’ for each other... “ _

_ Here, Akira glanced at Goro. Then, he said, “Akechi will go with you.” _

_ Ryuji went silent. _

_ Lightning flashed just as Goro smiled with poison in his expression. “I beg your pardon?”  _

_ “You. Go with Ryuji,” Akira said, smiling.  _

_ “Haha,” Goro laughed and leaned forward. He thought, at that exact moment: How do I get myself out of this situation?  _

_ “You are like a stick,” Akira said to him. “You need muscle.” _

_ Blood rushed to his head. Goro smiled despite the fact that his teeth ground together. “Oh? You think so?” _

_ \-  _

And that’s how he ended up here. Gym bag slung on one shoulder and wearing casual wear; brown khakis and a blue button-up shirt. Rain falls quietly, and he holds his umbrella as he waits. 

His studies have been neglected after all that’s been happening. Despite being top of his class, a worm of fear knots in the back of his mind that he’ll fall below if he doesn’t keep up. Everything is moving so quickly, and some days, he feels as if he is the only one standing still. 

He  _ must  _ keep up. The world will leave him behind if he doesn’t.

“Hey!” A loud voice from his left makes him jump. Ryuji walks towards him with vigour and a wild grin. “Ready to lift some weights?” Then, he suddenly shouts, “No pain, no gain!”, which startles passersby. 

_ Oh my god,  _ Goro thinks and refrains from walking away. Instead, he smiles and nods at Ryuji. “Ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s go.” 

-

“So… working out,” Goro begins, as he and Ryuji change into their workout clothes. “Since you’re a track and field master, you may have to teach me the ropes. I don’t workout often. Unless jogging in the morning counts as working out…”

“Yeah, that’s workin’ out, dude. Cardio. Gets your heart pumpin’,” Ryuji smiles his way as he trades ripped jeans for black, baggy gym shorts. “Cardio’s good and all, but fighting shadows and creepy old men calls for some muscle definition. I tried to get the other’s into it other than Ann, but geez, they’re all introverts... “ 

Goro smiles. “Introverts don’t work out?”

“Oh, definitely, they work out. Just not  _ our  _ introverts ya dig? Meet me in the weights room, okay?” 

When Ryuji leaves, Goro stands there, holding onto the fabric of his athletic shirt.  _ Our  _ introverts, Ryuji had said. 

-

Goro finds Ryuji on a benchpress, seated on the cushioned chair and adjusting his workout gloves.

“Were you sleepin’ on me or what? You took so friggin’ long!”

“Sorry, I was looking for a water fountain to fill up my water bottle,” he admits, but truthfully, he got distracted by the indoor pool on the way to the weights room. Why didn’t he just say that? 

“One right by the bathroom.” Ryuji claps his hands, then nods. “Take care of me please!”

He did some research on spotting duty. Standard stuff was what websites told him (lift-off, appropriate counts, communicate... ). What Goro got from it was that he was supposed to prevent Ryuji from dying, although that’s easier said than done. Ryuji, from what he can tell, is an “act first think later” kind of guy. 

In his mind, if Ryuji was given a situation in which a little girl was trapped in a fire, Ryuji would dive into the fire to save the girl without any thought for himself. 

Backwards thinking is what Shido called it.  _ Selflessness gets you nowhere, Goro. Selflessness leads to road blocks. Once, I used to give to the world,  _ Shido had said,  _ until I stopped when I realized the world only demands.  _

Goro, back then, wanted to say to him,  _ The world demands more of you because you are never enough, father. You could never love. You cheated your wife. Then you left like the coward you are. I hope you die lonely.  _

But not yet. That wasn’t the time. 

So, instead, he had said,  _ It is a shame that the world never realized what they had until they lost it. They deserve to suffer.  _

Goro would save the girl, too. For the sake of maintaining his image to the public. 

“You okay there?” Ryuji asks, glancing up at him. Goro nods quickly to deny any sense of vulnerability, but Ryuji shrugs it off faster than he can play it off. “Alright. So, my training regimen is focusin’ on my arms right now. Bicep curls, weights, all that kinda fun stuff. You catch my drift?” 

_ Focusing on your arms? But aren’t you…  _ “You run in track, don’t you?” Goro inquires, lifting a brow.

“I do. What’s your point?”

“Wouldn’t it be… more reliable if you worked on your leg muscles?”

“Oh, dude,” Ryuji grins, and slaps him on the back. “I  _ never  _ skip leg day.” 

Of course. Goro grunts, forces a wavering smile, then gestures to the benchpress. “Well, you do your thing.”

“Hell yeah!” Ryuji yells, and the people in the room are visibly startled. “This one’s for you, Goro!” 

“You are so charming, Ryuji,” Goro says, smiling rigidly. 

“I’m lifting sixty pounds for you, baby.”

“Thank you so much.” 

Ryuji grins wide, then leans back onto the cushioned bench. Now, according to greatist.com, great spotters are not born, they are made. Sixty pounds is nothing compared to three hundred and fifteen, so the delivery from lifting to letting go shouldn’t be too bad. Just like a baton pass in track, but… downwards. And you’re not passing a baton, you’re passing a dumbbell. 

“It’s Akechi-kun,” a voice says excitedly behind him, and two more voices join to form a chorus of giggles and bashful whispers. Ryuji notices, and perks up, so Goro ends up stealing a glance, too. A glance turns into a look when Ryuji wouldn’t stop staring at three girls, dressed in gym wear, slightly sweaty and flushed. They’re giggling amongst each other like girls would at Goro’s high school, so it’s not a sight for him. But for Ryuji...

“Holy shit,” Ryuji marvels. “Shibuya girls are so…”

“They’re definitely something,” Goro smirks, recalling the time his fans chased him down the streets and he hid in a convenient store to escape (the manager allowed him to hide in the break room after he politely begged for safety). That was back when his debut as the detective prince was skyhigh with popularity; now, it’s calmed down to a tolerable level, attention he doesn’t mind.

“Did you three need something?” He asks politely, with a small smile. 

The brunette in the middle shakes her head, but her smile is wide, cheeks light pink. “No! So sorry to bother you! Do your best, Akechi-kun!” 

They scurry away like mice. Goro looks back to Ryuji. “Suddenly I’m not so sure if sixty pounds is enough.”

" Yeah, shut the hell up. I’m liftin’ three hundred fifty after that."

“Why?”

“They cheered you on and not me, and now I’m pissed off.”

“Will the two hundred and ninety pounds be for the Shibuya girls and the sixty pounds be for me?” Goro asks, smile turning light and teasing.

“ _ Shut up,  _ dude.”

-

Goro can barely lift three hundred and fifty pounds. He struggles. His arms wobble, sweat condensating his palms and the metal, making his grip unreliable. Ryuji, watching him from underneath, whispers harshly, “ _ Dude here they come!  _ Just do me this one solid, okay? Just…”

The Shibuya girls appear from around the corner, still giggling. As planned, Ryuji was going to powerlift three hundred and fifty pounds as the girls walked by to impress them. Goro was supposed to just pass the dumbell to Ryuji, and he just lowers the weights, then lifts it. At that moment, Goro places them back on the bars. 

“I can’t lift it,” Goro grunts. He can feel his knees buckle. “Ryuji, I can’t.”

“Lift it, noodle arms.”

“Ryuji, if I can’t lift it, you can’t either.”

“The hell?! You may have the looks and the fans, but you sure as hell don’t have these gains!”

“What?! Ryuji- Ryuji,” Goro can feel his grip failing him. Every molecule of his body begs for righteous retribution. “Ryuji I’m going to drop it.” 

“Drop it into my hands.”

“NO-” At that moment, the handle slides from his sweaty hands and drop into Ryuji’s. Ryuji cries out from surprise and attempts to powerlift the dumbell just as the girls stroll by, but to no avail. His arms give out from the weight and they lean to the left, where Goro is standing. Goro shrieks, swiftly dodging the leaning tower of Pisa that is Ryuji and the dumbell. Within a second, the dumbell collides with tiled ground, shattering the floor. 

“Oh my god,” Goro mumbles under his breath. He turns to see the Shibuya girls, who stare at the catastrophe before them.n

“Ask them if they want my number,” Ryuji says. 

Goro smiles at the Shibuya girls. “Well, ladies? After that spectacle, what do you think of this fine specimen?”

“He… he broke the floor!” One of them exclaims. 

“With my strength,” Ryuji chimes in.

“Strength that is, no doubt, no small feat. We should really go, Ryuji.”

“Hell to the yeah we should, dude.”

-

Out into the musk of the rain, Ryuji’s laugh bounces off of the alleyways, loud and fulfilling that even Goro can’t help but smile. They walk, sharing an umbrella because Ryuji didn’t bother to bring one.

Ryuji holds it with one hand. His other hand is shoved in his pocket as they walk. “At least their days were made.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Goro agrees. “I don’t think we’ll be allowed in there ever again. What would my fans think…”

“That you can’t lift weights and you’re not swole.”

“Swole?”

“You know. Muscly? Sexy?”

“Ohh! Okay, yeah. Retract that comment. They think my boyish charm is alluring. And thanks to you, I now have the hint of dangerousness that girls adore. 

Ryuji turns to stare at him blankly. “Your voice broke when you screamed.”

Goro flushes, then snaps, “Was it as broken as the floor?”

“That was on  _ accident! _ ”

“It was tragic, is what it was,” he smiles, and chuckles. “Such was my heart. I thought you were going to lift sixty pounds for me.”

“You’re really not going to let that go, huh?”

“Nope. How could I?” Goro pauses, then honesty seeps into his words the way a river crashes head on with a rock: sudden and rapid, and natural. “I thought you were going to be indifferent about this whole ordeal.”

“The hell?” The blonde’s face scrunches up, weighing out Goro’s words in his head. “Why?”

“You never liked me.” A first. Everyone  _ always  _ likes him. “It’s understandable, considering our circumstances.”

_Circumstances_ is one way to put it; a stronger word would have been  _ fate,  _ something that demanded the attention of divine intervention, but… as they walk in shared silence, Goro thinking a hundred miles per hour, Ryuji trying to figure out what to say, the world seems to still for a moment. And they’re unaware of the larger game that is beyond them, unaware of who truly is pulling the strings. 

Ryuji’s face, impassive, looks forward into the road, seeming endless. Goro fears that he took a step forward where he shouldn’t have; a landmine, and he stepped right on it. But should he care? 

“Yeah, I never liked you. But people can change, man,” Ryuji says, and Goro watches him. “Besides, you seem alright.”

Goro wanted to say:  _ I’ve changed into other people so many times that some days I don’t know who I am anymore.  _

He wanted to say:  _ I’ve shed my skin like a snake and came out as a ram, a goat, a bear, a crow. _

He wanted to say:  _ You’re as thick as the skull you wear on your face, Ryuji. You’d make it easier for me and yourself if you saw right through me.  _

But Ryuji keeps talking. “Ma says that people change for the better or for the worse. We saw that, in my dad.” His voice, his words, are as honest as his eyes. “She says everyone always has a second chance, ya know.” 

“Violence is not deserving of second chances,” Goro says carefully. “I’ve heard the rumors. Students at Shujin Academy sure do whisper loud, don’t they?”

Ryuji laughs, then shrugs. They take a left. “Ma’s one of those people who’s too kind for her own good. I keep telling her to not let ‘im into our lives, ya know? Even if it’s like, givin’ him some money for booze or talkin’ to him on the phone.”

“She still loves him,” Goro concludes.

" That’s the effed up thing,” sighs Ryuji, and his gaze, now tired and weary, moves to the ground. “But I get it, sort of.”

It’s  _ understandable?  _ How could he say that? Goro stares at him, surprised. “Well, some people have psychological attachments, that much I understand…” He  _ doesn’t.  _ When Goro sees his own father, he sees a man with an ego that’s been overfed the past twenty or so years, building and breeding a man that the public believes to be a saint when underneath all that he left a mother and a son to falter, then fall. And now his mother is dead.

How can it be understandable?

“Aw, dude. It’s just- sometimes it’s like… You can see past a person’s flaws, no matter how damned they are, and you can still see… like, who they once were. Like yeah, I’ve shut him out completely, told my mom to stop talking to him, but when I look in old photographs of us, I still see-” Ryuji cuts himself off, and shakes his head. “I still see my dad, y’know. Holding me when I was four. Pretendin’ to be a monster and chasin’ me around the old house when I was five. Takin’ me to the museum at seven. Slappin’ me silly with a bottle when I was eight.”

That’s how. Goro doesn’t know what to say. 

“Now I’m sixteen and I have to try and see the monster he was pretendin’ to be. It’s clear as day, and I hate his guts for doing what he did.”

“I’m… sorry,” Goro offers, stiffly. He doesn’t know if he’s being genuine or just trying to be polite. He hopes it’s the latter.

“Naw, dude. I’m sorry for gettin’ all deep on ya.” Ryuji’s grin is as bright as the sun that emerges from the clouds. “But it just proves my point, yeah? You’re an alright guy, and even if you messed with us, we gave you a second chance. Plus, you attract cute girls, and that’s like, the best thing ever.”

“Second chances don’t work as well when dealing with criminals,” Goro says. “But, I do see where your philosophy lies… Somewhere on a silver lining.” He points upwards, to a cloud with its soft edges lined by the light of the sun.

“Hah, and you’ve got a wack sense of humor. You’re just fine, Goro.” Ryuji grins.

Goro’s smile feels genuine. “Thanks,” he says, and he doesn’t know if he’s being genuine or polite.

Goro didn’t know, at that point, that at that  _ exact  _ moment is when his walls, little by little, began to fall. But it was better if he didn’t. Or maybe it was better if he did.

-

When Goro comes back to his apartment, exhausted, the first thing he does is change his clothes. Rain-soaked casual wear is not fun to sleep in. A pair of grey sweats and a deep green sweater is a much better alternative, paired with tea and honey. While he waits for the kettle to boil, Goro turns on the television. With the news anchor as background noise and the rain tapping the windows, Goro walks to his bedroom, finds his study notes, and walks back to his living room. He drops them on the coffee table beside his phone, which lights up with a notification. 

Curious, Goro picks up his phone and scrolls through the notifications: 2 texts from Sae asking if he was coming to the meeting at 8:00 tomorrow, some reminders for his schedule tomorrow, and the most recent one… a text from Akira. 

_ Huh,  _ he thinks, then swipes left. The option to view the text appears, and he presses on it. The text reads:  **How was your day with Ryuji? **

Interesting, to say the least. Strange how Akira asks though, but maybe it’s just genuine curiosity. Some days, Goro has to remind himself that ulterior motives only show if you’re a bad liar. Akira has friends and he has a right to ask. 

How does he respond to this, then?

He might as well just be honest.  **Interesting and fun. We… caused some trouble. **

The text is ‘read’. For a moment, it’s left as just that. Goro almost throws his phone across the room. 

_ Almost.  _ Until three grey dots appear, and then:  **I figured. Ryuji says you two broke the floor. **

T he whine of the kettle grows louder. He stands up to prepare for it, and walks to the kitchen while his eyes are cast down on his phone screen. 

Goro’s fingers fly across the keyboard in response.  **It was mostly him. **

And then quickly, right after that text, Goro adds:  **But yes, we were both technically at fault. 80% him and 20% me.**

Akira’s response is only 4 seconds later.  **Haha. You enjoyed yourself, didn’t you? **

Now, Goro gets dubious.  _ Where is this conversation going?  _ **Yes. Although, I don’t think lifting weights is for me… **

**Who could blame you, with your noodle arms.**

**Not you too!**

The kettle stops boiling. Akira responds:  **We’re meeting at Leblanc again after tomorrow. You should come. **

If Goro knows what’s good for him, he should say  _ No, sorry, I’m busy,  _ but fuck it. He texts back:  **Yeah, sure. See you tomorrow.**

-

Goro dreams of gods beyond his recognition; a horned beast, wielding a crimson sword, talking in a tongue he doesn’t understand but understands all the same.

The god says to him, “ _ I would have defied him if I could. But I’ve failed in every regard. _ ”

Fire and flood raises around them, rousing Goro from his sleep. His body feels cold.

He numbly glances at his phone. Akira texted him at 1:05 in the morning, and the text reads:  **If you’re late, Ryuji will make you lift weights again.**

Goro smiles. Sunlight seeps through the blinds.


End file.
